Advanced Architecture FAQ

In priority order, the targeted user list includes

• ASC co-design project members
• ASC tri-lab staff
• ASC university partners
• ASC vendor partners
• ASCR co-design center researchers
• On a case by case basis, determined by the value added to an Exascale future:
  • Non-ASC Sandia staff
  • Non-ASC collaborators sponsored by a Sandia staff member
  • CRADA partners

The list of test beds can be found in the matrix located here.

• I work at Sandia National Labs (SNL); how do I get an account on these machines?
  From WebCARS, select High Performance Computing, unclassified HPC clusters. From that expansion, select each system on which you want an account. Note that some of the listed systems are not test beds.
• I work at a different NNSA National Lab, or am part of the ASC PSAAP Universities; how do I get an account on these machines?
  Contact the SARAPE administrator(s) at your site. Identify the test bed(s) on which you would like an account. The list of test beds can be found in the matrix located here.
• I work at a different Department of Energy National Lab; how do I get an account on these machines?
  Contact your SNL colleague. S/he will follow up with your Enterprise Person registration, and if necessary, a foreign national access security plan. Once that is complete, your colleague’s Office Administrative Assistant (OAA) will complete the WebCARS request for 1) unclassified login account, 2) Kerberos account, and 3) accounts on the desired test beds from the list here.
• I work at a University in the United States; how do I get an account on these machines?
  Contact your SNL colleague. S/he will follow up with your Enterprise Person registration, and if necessary, a foreign national access security plan. Once that is complete, your colleague’s Office Administrative Assistant (OAA) will complete the WebCARS request for 1) unclassified login account, 2) Kerberos account, and 3) accounts on the desired test beds from the list here.

The testbeds are on one of three networks – ECN, OHPC, and SRN. The table (this link is limited access) on the HAAPs home page identifies the network for each testbed.

To log into systems on the ECN or OHPC:

• login with "ssh -l <sandia_user_name> <testbed_name>.sandia.gov" from anywhere on the Internet (including the SRN).
• At the login prompt, enter your Sandia unclassified Kerberos password. If you have a Sandia CryptoCard, the result on that will also work, but you must still have an active Kerberos password.
• Remember, no export controlled information is allowed on any of these systems residing in the ECN or OHPC.

To log into systems on the SRN:

• If the system you are coming from is on the SRN, you can log into the SRN testbeds with ssh (as above) and your Kerberos password or active ticket or CryptoCard result.
• If the system you are coming from is not on the SRN, you will need to log into srngate.sandia.gov and use the result on Sandia CryptoCard at the password prompt. From srngate, you then ssh to <testbed_name> with either your Sandia Kerberos password or the Sandia CryptoCard result. For the really adventurous, LANL and LLNL cross cell authentication should work at srgnate.
• If you have entered via srngate and need files from a system on the Internet, initiate the scp from the testbed, not your system.

Go to https://prod.sandia.gov/password/pcu.html . It will prompt for a Sandia CryptoCard authentication. You will also need your existing Kerberos password to change it. The update takes 5-15 minutes, so do not attempt to log into a testbed until after that.

If you do not have a Sandia CryptoCard or you do not know your existing Kerberos password, call the Corporate Computing Help Desk at 505-845-cchd (505-845-2243) and request a new password. Ask the help desk person to also give you the name and email of the Office Administrative Assistant (OAA) associated with the organization (department) number that sponsored you. That OAA will receive your password via corporate snail mail and will need to know where to forward it. You need to inform the OAA that the password and/or CryptoCard will be arriving and where to send it. You also need to provide the name of your Sandia contact. That person will need to provide a project number to pay for the FedEx.

If you receive an email from unattended@sandia.gov regarding a "DiGS alert", your password or your account(s) are likely going to expire. Do not ignore it. Unfortunately, you need to ignore most of the instructions in the email. The link provided to address the alert only works from within Sandia and doesn’t give the 505 area code for the help desk. Use the information in this FAQ if you think it’s your password. Accounts are good for one year. Perhaps some unused dot file in your home directory will give you a clue as to whether your anniversary is upcoming? Contact your Sandia contact to help you if you need to renew your accounts.

Beyond general testbed health problems, note that testbed login requires a Sandia Kerberos password while, for example, ECN Solo just requires an ECN password. The testbeds do not support cross-cell authentication from LLNL or LANL.

Email <testbed name here>-help@sandia.gov and or call 505-844-9328 for system-level problems. Help email is first processed (or created from a phone call) by Sandia’s "HPC OneStop" service desk. HPC OneStop provides tech support for all HPC production systems at Sandia. The test bed system administrators and the test bed managers receive the emails as soon as the tickets are queued by HPC OneStop. Response times are "best effort", but rarely more than 4 hours during regular Sandia business hours.

For application issues, no computational scientists or consultants are provided. Users are asked to send email to the test bed community at <testbed name here>-users@sandia.gov. This peer support model has been working quite well. If the initiator of the request obtains the answer to their question, they are asked to add a FAQ or subsection to the WIKI, either under the individual testbed wiki pages, or the general ones. The same applies to incorrect information in the wiki. Please update whenever and wherever you can. Note that you must have a Sandia CryptoCard or be on an unclassified Sandia Network to access the WIKI.